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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499383">The Purification</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/peltonea/pseuds/peltonea'>peltonea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Gifts, trades and exchanges [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Far Cry 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Gift Fic, Judaism, POV John Seed, Pre-Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:14:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,721</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499383</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/peltonea/pseuds/peltonea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>John Seed gets a little more than he bargained for at the Cleansing of Deputy Nicole Gerber.</p><p>Art trade fic for <a href="https://theknifegame.tumblr.com/">theknifegame</a></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Deputy | Judge/John Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/John Seed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Gifts, trades and exchanges [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847263</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Purification</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>John Seed is a patient man when he needs to be. That’s half the work in being a lawyer: calmly stating your goals and how you’ll achieve them, letting the other side panic, and waiting for them to fold. Sometimes, though,  his opponents don’t give in, and that’s why John’s so meticulous in his preparation: no matter what they do, he’ll win. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The law is <em>full</em> of loopholes and minor contradictions, to such an extent that a sufficiently motivated, intelligent person could quite easily bend it to their own liking. And that’s exactly what John does. It's a work philosophy that’s served him well over the years. Up until now, that is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since the Reaping, things in Hope County have been going <em>wrong</em>. Now, John had expected that to a certain extent. Obviously the local hicks wouldn’t <em>all</em> happily fall into line. Some did, thank the Father. Others were taken, just as John had promised. And there are still more yet to be saved, hiding in the plains and the mountains and the meadows, doing what sinners do best of all: evil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re fighting and killing and stealing from one another, hypocritically pointing their dirty hands at Eden’s Gate and the saved, spreading lies and driving themselves to violent hysteria.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s one sinner, though, whose propensity toward violence is so much </span>
  <em>
    <span>worse</span>
  </em>
  <span> than any of the others. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Worse than Deputy Pratt, or Marshall Burke, or Sheriff Whitehorse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whose wilful ignorance is so much more </span>
  <em>
    <span>destructive</span>
  </em>
  <span> than Deputy Hudson’s or Pastor Jeffries’ or even Nick Rye’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who is single-handedly </span>
  <em>
    <span>destroying</span>
  </em>
  <span> Eden’s Gate— all that John and his family have built— out of </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span>, exactly? Ignorance? Idiocy? Malevolence and spite? John isn’t sure. He’ll find out, though. Sooner rather than later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We must wash away our past,” John says, his voice ringing loud and clear through the still night air. He ignores the cold of the river tugging at his knees. “We must <em>expose</em> our sins.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sinners, Blissed as they are, are easily cleansed by John’s assistants. John checks their handiwork as each sinner staggers to the shore, the purity of their souls shining brightly in the bright floodlights he’d had set up on the dirt. He’s quite impressed. He’d never have dreamed he’d ever see these sinners so clean. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Each clean sinner is anointed, John gently swiping a line of ash and oil (and a few drops of Bliss) onto their forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We must atone,” John tells them, solemnly, as they step up onto the shore, wrapped in towels and blankets and bundled into the trucks, ready to be taken deep into John’s Gate for their confession. “For only then may we stand in the light of God and walk through his Gate unto Eden.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, all but one sinner has been taken care of. They’ve saved the worst for last: the junior Deputy. The youngest and newest of Whitehorse’s lackeys, the one who started this whole mess by opening the first seal, by arresting Joseph in the church. A necessary evil, but one which John can’t quite help but resent her for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>John watches, warily, as his assistants lower her into the water, lifting her quickly as the cold of the river shocks her into wakefulness. She’s bruised and bloody, her hair falling in damp tangles, her eyes the soulless green-white of the Bliss. It’s strange to see her like this, so devoid of wrath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John remembers seeing her in the church, her curly blonde hair bound back in a simple ponytail, bright blue eyes narrowed in hostility when she looked at Joseph, snapping those cuffs around his wrists as though he were some common criminal. As outraged as John had been at her utter disrespect of Joseph, and as ashamed as he is to admit it, John had been momentarily taken aback by her beauty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How ironic it is, that someone so angelic-looking could have such a filthy soul...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What is her name? The one written on her uniform? It had been hard to see in the dimly lit chapel. G… something. Nancy had pronounced it with a strong ‘R’ at the end. What on earth…?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gartner? No, not that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gruber? No, but it was similar…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah. Gerber. That was it.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Gerber</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deputy Gerber steps forward, swaying oh-so-slightly even with John’s assistants holding her up. Honestly, it’s impressive she’s standing at all. The reports from her capture stated that she’d been pumped with enough Bliss to keep a horse down, let alone a woman barely over five-four. The assistants help her forward, wading step by step until she’s in front of John, gazing up at him with unseeing eyes. Something catches the light at her neck— a tiny flash of gold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gerber’s soul is filthy, and John is a </span>
  <em>
    <span>terribly</span>
  </em>
  <span> curious man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not this one,” he tells the assistants. They stop immediately, with a gentle splash. He hands his Book of Joseph to one assistant, his vial of ash-and-oil to the other. They let go of Gerber, who sways visibly without their help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>John casts a discerning gaze over Gerber: her halo-like curls, her doe-like eyes, her full lips. Honestly, he’d have expected the harbinger of the Collapse to be uglier. He can tell already, she has deep abscesses of sin within her soul. He’ll need to work hard to scrub her clean.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His fingers find the delicate chain around her neck. He lifts, carefully, and—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a Star of David, a little smaller than a quarter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Gerber’ is a common Jewish surname.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Interesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps the Deputy isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>quite</span>
  </em>
  <span> as sinful as John thought. Perhaps… perhaps she’s just misguided. Perhaps she just needs a slightly </span>
  <em>
    <span>different</span>
  </em>
  <span> explanation of why Joseph is right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John’s been so used to dealing with Catholics these past few years, he could argue semantics and saints in his sleep. They simply don’t seem to understand that they are undeserving of the automatic forgiveness the Bible promises, that Eden’s Gate is justice itself. But Judaism is a very different matter… there are </span>
  <em>
    <span>principles</span>
  </em>
  <span> and moral </span>
  <em>
    <span>obligations</span>
  </em>
  <span> and, best of all, a rich history of debate and argument.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John will have to read up on his rabbinic literature, but he’s sure he can get through to her. If Gerber is truly a devout woman, she’ll soon enough understand that Eden’s Gate is, essentially, a form of </span>
  <em>
    <span>tikkun olam</span>
  </em>
  <span>. That Eden's Gate is the vehicle through which this sinful world will be transformed into a truly peaceful, just, and fair place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John needs time. But he can do this. Oh, Father, he can do this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This one’s not clean,” he says, and Gerber blinks, slowly, as John grabs her shoulders. She frowns, her pretty face clearing just a little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re one to talk, Johnny boy,” she says, those pink lips drawing up into a smirk. Gerber’s words are accented with something throaty that could be French but isn’t. It’s not German or Spanish, either. Something Scandinavian? Or possibly Dutch?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John frowns. Stop. Her accent doesn’t really matter. What matters is the state of her soul.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pushes her down, into the water, and holds her there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A moment passes, and then Gerber starts struggling against his grasp. She’s surprisingly strong, surprisingly focused even through the Bliss, her nails digging into the meat of his hands and wrists. One foot slams into John’s knee and he stumbles, shocked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ow!” John shouts, first in surprise, then in anger. “Stop! Let the water wash away your sin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gerber ignores him, straight up holding his wrists now, almost dragging John forward into the water with her weight. Then there’s another kick, much higher, and that gets John square in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him in an agonising blow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>John yelps, lets go of her on instinct as he stumbles back, nearly falling ass-backward into the water. Gerber doesn’t let up, using John’s movements to lever herself back up, those Blissed-out eyes narrowed at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Immediately, John’s assistants grab Gerber, and she lets go of him, that damned smirk stretching across her mouth. John hurriedly steps back, folding his arms protectively over his stomach, in case she tries anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You!” he starts, fury seeping through his veins and nausea rising in his throat. “How dare--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you mock the cleansing, John?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That holy voice ringing through the air behind him. Fear and love quelling John’s wrath, leaving only shame in its wake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>John closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and turns to look at his saviour. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Joseph,” he says, and he hopes that Joseph can hear the sincerity in his words. He hadn’t meant to lose control like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joseph hushes him. John obeys. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have to love them, John,” Joseph reminds him, stepping forward. “Do not let your sin prevent that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>John’s heart drops. Of course. Joseph is right. How could he let some stupid sinner get in his head so quickly? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bring that one to me,” Joseph orders, and John’s assistants obey. He follows, acutely aware of his failings, as Joseph embraces Gerber, speaks to her in a low voice that’s barely audible above the gentle song of the river behind them. “Despite all you have done, you are not beyond salvation. You’re not here by accident or by chance. You are here by the grace of God. You’ve been given a gift. Now it remains to be seen whether you accept it... or cast it aside.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An excellent sermon. Short and sweet, stoking John’s faith despite the fact it was not directed at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joseph steps back, nods to the assistants. They fetch Gerber a towel, drape it around her shoulders as Joseph focuses his attention on John. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This one will reach atonement,” Joseph says, calmly. More calmly than John deserves, really. Joseph reaches forward, draws John toward him, pressing his forehead against his brothers’. John closes his eyes, basking in the Father’s love. “Or the Gates of Eden shall be shut to you, John.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>John swallows, his throat dry. The Father does not make promises he does not intend to keep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Joseph,” he says, and Joseph lets go. He heads back to a truck that hadn’t been there earlier, leaving John standing alone on the shore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deputy Gerber </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span> be clean, John promises himself. And John </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span> love her, no matter how difficult she makes it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He will not fail again. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is an art trade fic for <a href="https://theknifegame.tumblr.com/">the lovely Nika, aka theknifegame</a>. She drew my darling OCs, Felicia and Liz, and in return I wrote John getting his ass kicked by the love of my life, Nicole Gerber. Please go check out Nika's art- she's an incredibly skilled artist, and Nicole is such a fantastic character! </p><p>Writing this was a lot of fun and reminded me of how much I enjoy studying Judaism, especially Rabbinic literature. If any readers have an interest in law, ethics, or philosophy, I highly recommend looking up the Mishnah Torah and the rich traditions of debate and argument in Judaism. </p><p>Dear Nika: thank you so much for agreeing to this trade (and for your endless patience)! I really appreciate it and adore the results! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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